Both phones rang early this morning...mine
first, then Kim’s. Up and moving about
7:15 a.m.
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Today was packing and leaving day. The longer we’re in the trailer the less
inclined we are to keep everything in its place. We started out being very diligent about
putting items away and keeping the floor open. For example: all our extra footwear was kept
in the truck; I’d get my walking shoes out in the morning and put them away
when done with ‘em. But today it became
apparent that we’d gotten a little less diligent in the past few days. Dealing
with that extra stuff didn’t add much to the cleanup time...it just pointed out
our bad habits.
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On the road at 10:30 a.m...but we put a
deposit down for Lot #35 for next February 24.
Adding a week on the front end of our trip. And who knows...maybe we’ll add a week to the
back end , too.
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The truck clock was still on Michigan
un-Daylight Saving Time, meaning it was an hour behind Michigan but two hours
ahead of Arizona. It usually wasn’t an
issue. New Mexico is in the same time
zone as Arizona but it observes Daylight Saving Time. We jumped ahead an hour crossing the state
line but our phones weren’t changing and suddenly the truck time became an
issue. Luckily I knew what to do with
the phones; I went into settings and reversed what we’d done on March 10, time
change day. Then I jumped the truck
clock ahead an hour so it was on the current Michigan time. All timepieces are on the same page...sort
of.
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Not much happening today...no walking, no
riding and no April Fools jokes. 😎 Just
driving..driving..driving. At Las
Cruces, NM, we turned onto US 70 then split off in a northern direction on US 54,
heading for Santa Rosa. Planned on
hopping on I-40 at that point.
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Thought we’d have to stay on the road
another couple of hours to make it all the way to Santa Rosa for a room. The road we’re on is in wide open
country...no towns. Surprise! Suddenly we were in a little town called Carrizozo. And
look! There’s a couple of motels. So even though it was only 7:40 p.m., we
stopped at the Four Winds Motel to see about a room. There was only one truck in the parking lot
but we figured if they were mysteriously filled up we could always head across
the street to the Carrizozo Inn...it had newly remodeled rooms. 😏 We were in a room at the Four Winds before 8
o’clock. Good to be out of the truck.
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We drove into Carrizozo at early dusk...hard
to tell what the town was really about except that there were painted donkeys
on top of numerous buildings.
Interesting! So I decided to do a
Google search on the town...did donkeys figure into its past somehow? Wikipedia didn’t
give me any information about the donkey statues but it did have this to say
about the name Carrizozo:
The name
of the town is derived from the Spanish vernacular for reed grass (Carrizo),
which grew significantly in the area and provided excellent feed for ranch
cattle. The additional 'zo' at the end of the town name was added to indicate an
abundance of Carrizo grass. The town is now often referred to as 'Zozo.
And also this:
Carrizozo is a town
in Lincoln County, New
Mexico and is the county
seat with a population of 996 at
the 2010 census. Founded in 1899, the town provided the main railroad
access for Lincoln County, and the town experienced significant population
growth in the early decades of the 1900s. However, with declining relevance of
the railroad, the population of the town has gradually declined. The town is
located at the intersection of U.S.
Route 54 and U.S.
Route 380.
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However, I searched
some more and on newmexico.org I found an
article about the donkeys...ah, burros.
An attempt
to entice travelers into exploring Carrizozo’s art spaces has grown into a
Tularosa Basin phenomenon. Warren and Joan Malkerson, expat
Minnesotans, turned their sights to this little town southeast of Socorro in
2005 and invested in a “herd” of aluminum burros. They invited local artists to
paint the beasts, then set them outside businesses, along the roads, and atop a
few buildings. Motorists who noticed them stopped into the couple’s Tularosa Basin Gallery of Photography and their Gallery 408. A feeding frenzy followed. “We’ve sold more than 400 of the
painted burros,” Warren says. “They’re in more than 30 states.” Nearly every
Lincoln County artist has painted one, including some fourth graders who had a
field day with Mondrian blocks and Pollock splatters. Besides strengthening the
region’s artistic appeal, the burros (selling for $500–$1,300 apiece) help
animal-rescue efforts and challenge Malkerson to fit them into buyers’ cars. He
especially likes watching each one leave, burro head placidly peering out of
the trunk.
Small town
pride...gotta love it!! I think a
drive around town to check out the burros is in order before we hit the road tomorrow morning.
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Drove 452 miles today...on the
road about 8 hours.
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| Today's route.... |
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